At the beginning of March, I had the opportunity to showcase a new collection of artwork at a local hotel in Springfield — Hotel Vandivort. When I was reached out to regarding this opportunity, I wanted to do something special for it as I was going to be the featured artist at the hotel for First Friday Art Walk. Instead of exhibiting pieces that I had already completed, I decided to make a whole new series of artworks that were reflective of my current personal experiences and an art style that has helped me grow into myself more as an artist. The showing of my art series “Moments” was on display for one night only. In this blog post, I am sharing the art narratives I had displayed with each painting to tell the story behind each of them as well as the story of the series as a whole.

The Story of the Series, “Moments”

The artwork in this series of paintings titled Moments, are inspired by the moments, both small and large, that influenced my life over the past year. Not only does this collection memorialize instances in time, but also shows my growth as an artist, taking a mixed media approach to some of the artistic styles that I have engaged in during my creative journey. I grew up exclusively drawn to creating art by pencil, and didn’t discover my love for painting until I was an adult. I was too intimidated by the idea of experimenting with color to make a composition come together, but once I let loose, I found a love for it. This collection addresses the early stages in my art career where I leaned heavily into integrating collage work with abstract representational paintings as well as plays into my love for drawing. Ink drawing, specifically, was something I started to embrace as a quick sketch practice to capture my experiences when traveling and out in nature. Each mixed media piece takes on an abstract play on emotions and color palettes inspired by places where specific moments took place. When observing each painting in this series, you are getting a snapshot into aspects of my life that make me, me as well as the foundations I have built to create art that I am truly proud enough of to share with an audience such as yourself.

*Picnic by Candlelight, 2025*
*Mixed Media*
*24” x 30”*

The Story of the Painting, Picnic by Candlelight

The moment depicted in this painting, is from an impromptu evening picnic, on a throw blanket on the living room floor. Taking objects from around the house — picnic basket, flowers, candlesticks, and decorative trays — to set a scene and make up for not being able to shill out the big bucks for a Valentine’s dinner out. The arrangement was set only as an accoutrement to the cheese board selection and cheap wine all picked up from Aldi not too long before. The colors, lines, and shapes in this piece are pulled from the details of the night — the yellow blanket set with geometric designs, the green of the wine bottle, the silver of the trays.

The Story of the Painting, Field of Water Lilies and Steel

*Field of Water Lilies and Steel, 2025*
*Mixed Media*
*24” x 30”*

This moment depicted in this painting, is from a combination of museum experiences at the MoMA in New York City. I had the pleasure of visiting three art museums in the city as a college graduation gift to appease the art history nerd in me. I chose two pieces of artwork to inspire this piece which are very different from each other. The vast size of these pieces may be the only thing they have in common – Claude Monet’s Water Lilies span across the majority of the walls in the room it resides and Richard Serra’s Equal is massive to say the least. Equal is described as “eight blocks of steel in the shape of sharp-edge cubes” which tower over its viewers with each cube weighing 40 tons. The juxtaposition between the inviting palette and soft brush strokes and the dark earth toned weight captured within the sculpture reflects my varying interests when it comes to art – both that I enjoy viewing and creating. I find comfort in recreating something “real” like a landscape or bouquet of flowers while I seek meaning in the less obvious. Entering a field surrounded by both whimsy and structure is what I wanted to cast upon people as they view Field of Water Lilies and Steel and for them to find their own “less obvious” meaning within it.

The Story of the Painting, The Inn by the Creek

*The Inn By the Creek, 2024*
*Mixed Media*
*16” x 20”*

The moment depicted in this painting comes from the artist residency I had the chance to participate in at The Ozarker Lodge in Branson. This piece was completed at the residency and is a culmination of several aspects of the space itself. During that time, I skipped between creating art in their cozy lobby area and outside in their back lawn. Several other art studies and sketches came out of this experience, but The Inn by the Creek combines the elements from both the interior and exterior. The colors and patterns painted onto the surface reflect the contemporary cabin vibes that took over their interior decorating. The drawn collage pieces are taken from some of the outdoor sketches I made amongst their manicured backyard garden just along the creek.

*Fabric and Lights, 2025*
*Mixed Media*
*24” x 30”*

The Story of the Painting, Fabric and Lights

The moment depicted in this painting is a culmination of events that came down to one single photo. When I am not making art, my other favorite pastime is practicing, teaching, and performing aerial arts. This is something that has been important in my life since I was a teenager but at that time I was just practicing and learning the craft. Being given the opportunity to perform as an aerialist led to not only the photo that serves as reference for this piece, but a variety of moments I'll never forget. Aerial to me is beauty, defying odds and testing the limits of the human body, community, and creativity. I created Fabric and Lights to elicit the feeling to viewers of how it feels to be in the air, manipulating the silks to create something beautiful for the audience below.

The Story of the Painting, Lost in the Lights

*Lost in the Lights, 2025*
*Mixed Media*
*24” x 36”*

The moment depicted in this painting comes from Times Square in New York City. This is probably not an unfamiliar feeling to anyone from the Midwest who has the opportunity to travel to the Big Apple, but the lights and the towering buildings take over you as you traverse the city and this is the feeling I wanted to elicit with this piece. The color palette reflects the hues of the city buildings, and lights against the movement of digital billboards and people wandering the streets. I had the chance to visit New York City for a special post-covid graduation trip to explore several of the city's art museums. While this whole series of paintings tell a story all together, this piece in particular is an accompanying piece for Field of Water Lilies and Steel which also was inspired by that trip.

The Story of the Painting, Black Palace

*Black Palace, 2025*
*Mixed Media*
*18” x 24”*

The mysterious, gothic black brick building on the corner of South and Walnut is a place I get to spend a lot of my time. Behind the walls, there are several businesses, but the collective art studio – Forming – is why I chose to include this building as inspiration for a Moment within this collection. I have always created art in my home, having either a designated room or corner to work in, but the Black Palace marks my move to having additional studio space to work and teach out of and collaborate with the other artists who take up residency there. I was very shy as a child, but I somehow fell into teaching art classes starting in 2020 and have taught at several businesses and agencies, before having the chance to curate a selection of classes of my own. This piece models the architecture seen in the windows of the building including the red glass in the arched corners – my favorite part. The structural forms in the heavy wooden doors to the mosaic tiles (set with dove motifs) lining the bottom exterior edges of the building compile a beauty I cannot explain.